A Glean movie guide
Beyond the Basement
Mind the gap.
Sharp social satires and tense thrillers where class warfare turns deadly.
Handpicked for this guide
The movie list
- 01
The Handmaiden
A visually stunning Korean thriller where a simple con evolves into a complex game of class-based deception.
1930s Korea, in the period of Japanese occupation, a new girl, Sookee, is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, Hideko, who lives a secluded life on a large countryside estate with her domineering Uncle Kouzuki. But the maid has a secret. She is a pickpocket recruited by a swindler posing as a Japanese Count to help him seduce the Lady to steal her fortune.
- 02
Snowpiercer
Bong Joon-ho’s visceral sci-fi epic turns a speeding train into a literal ladder of social stratification.
In a future where a failed global-warming experiment kills off most life on the planet, a class system evolves aboard the Snowpiercer; a train that travels around the globe via a perpetual-motion engine.
- 03
The Menu
A razor-sharp dark comedy that skewers the ultra-wealthy through a meticulously planned, high-stakes dinner.
A young couple travels to a remote island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where the chef has prepared a lavish menu, with some shocking surprises.
- 04
Saltburn
A provocative look at class envy and the lengths an outsider will go to infiltrate a world of extreme privilege.
Struggling to find his place at Oxford University, student Oliver Quick finds himself drawn into the world of the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton, who invites him to Saltburn, his eccentric family's sprawling estate, for a summer never to be forgotten.
- 05
Burning
A haunting, slow-burn mystery that captures the simmering resentment of the wealth gap in modern South Korea.
'Burning' is a conversation between two young mothers brought together by strange and cruel social realities, at a funeral ghat in Varanasi
- 06
The Housemaid
A sleek South Korean thriller focusing on the predatory and tragic nature of class interactions within a household.
Eun-yi is hired as a maid in a mansion owned by a wealthy businessman. He quickly starts seducing his employee who seemingly has little choice but to comply with his sexual advances. Soon the women of the family plot against Eun-yi who must fight an equally devious battle to protect herself.
- 07
Borgman
A surreal Dutch thriller about a mysterious vagrant who moves into an upper-class home to manipulate the family.
An enigmatic vagrant cons himself into the home life of an arrogant upper-class family, turning their lives into a psychological nightmare in the process.
- 08
Shoplifters
A poignant drama about a family of petty thieves living on the margins of society that hides a shocking secret.
In the outskirts of Tokyo, a poor but close-knit group living on the fringes of society survives through shoplifting and odd jobs. When Osamu and his son take in a neglected young girl, their already fragile existence begins to unravel. As the family grows attached to her, buried secrets surface, forcing them to confront the true meaning of love, belonging, and what makes a family.
- 09
Triangle of Sadness
A grotesque and hilarious satire that flips the social hierarchy upside down during a luxury cruise gone wrong.
A celebrity model couple are invited on a luxury cruise for the uber-rich, helmed by an unhinged, alcoholic captain. What first appears Instagrammable ends catastrophically, leaving the survivors stranded on a desert island in a struggle of hierarchy.
- 10
Get Out
A masterclass in social horror that uses a tense weekend visit to expose deep-seated systemic anxieties.
Chris and his girlfriend Rose go upstate to visit her parents for the weekend. At first, Chris reads the family's overly accommodating behavior as nervous attempts to deal with their daughter's interracial relationship, but as the weekend progresses, a series of increasingly disturbing discoveries lead him to a truth that he never could have imagined.
- 11
The Servant
A chilling 1960s drama where the power balance between a wealthy man and his manservant slowly and sinisterly shifts.
Indolent aristocrat Tony employs competent Barrett as his manservant and all seems to be going well until Barrett persuades Tony to hire his sister as a live-in maid.
- 12
The Platform
A brutal and claustrophobic allegory for wealth distribution set within a vertical, high-concept prison.
A slab of food descends down a vertical facility. The residents above eat heartily, leaving those below starving and desperate. A rebellion is imminent.